Do you care?
by CACHING
Summary: Ceecee is infected with the sin Sloth. What will this cause?My entry to ther Seven and Deadly contest on MCBC..enjoy!


**hey, It's nuriney again! This is my entry to the Seven and Deadly writing competion on MCBC **

**ENJOY!**

"Cee!" I turned around with a start. My face was stretched into an automatic smile. I guess, even though I had heard that particular voice less than an hour ago, that sound just triggered a basic emotion. Happiness.

"Adam? What's up? What happened?" His face was red. His eyes had the haunted look of someone who had to do something that they didn't want to. God, he looked sick.

"CeeCee, I gotta talk to you after school. Coffee Clutch, okay?" His voice shook, nervously. I looked at him. I couldn't see Adam. At least not the Adam who had told me that morning that he loved me no matter what happened, no matter what he said.

But before I could make him answer me, he turned around and walked away. The fact that his fists were clenched struck me as exceedingly un-Adam like. That was the real thing that sucked away my good mood.

No one really notices me. Until someone like Kelly Prescott comes around with a good ol' crack about the nerdy albino. That particular trait probably came in handy that day, while I stared out the window and tried to figure out what was up with Adam.

"Ms. Webb, would you care to enlighten us about why we have Ash Wednesday?" Sister Ernestine asked.

Ash Wednesday… Last year on Ash Wednesday, Adam and I had purposely coated our entire face wi----

"Ms. Webb? If you would be ever so kind to grace us with your presence, I'm sure we could get an answer."

I pinched my arm in an effort to bring my self to zone in. It didn't work.

Suze glanced at me. Worried. Maybe I was wrong. Maybe some people really did notice me. Maybe.

"Cee! C'mon, snap out of it. Look, I know you're wondering about what's up with Adam but now is not the time! Sister E is about to blow it!" Suze whispered so quickly and quietly I could barely keep up. Looking at my vacant stare she sighed.

"Sister, not to be rude or anything, but how on earth did people get the idea that God even exists? Could you explain it more clearly?"

As Sister Ernestine began her long rant, there were many sighs to be heard. And poor Suze was getting quite a few glares from around the class. While she gave no indication of caring, I felt bad. It was honestly my fault. I owed her big.

Whoosh. A folded piece of paper landed on my desk. I picked it up.

_Dag, CeeCee, snap out of it. It's not like I can save your butt 24/. It's only 20 minutes till lunch. Just try to zone in, k? There's only so much time the sister can rant for before she'll remember that she was asking you a question, you know?_ _♥ Suze._

I was able to bring my self down to earth long enough to destroy the note and nod at Suze. Then it was back to dreamland for me. And I was pretty lucky that the bell rang before Sister E's lecture about religion had finished.

I walked to my locker in a daze. Clumsily, I picked up my lunch bag and dropped off my books. Then I walked out to wear Suze, Adam and I usually eat.

The table was missing Adam. And he was nowhere to be seen.

"CeeCee, I'm sure he's just busy." Suze attempted to reassure me. It's sort of obvious that it didn't work.

I sat and ate silently. Suze chattered about random things. Random pointless things. It was nice of her to try to get my mind off Adam. I couldn't bring myself to tell her that it wasn't helping.

Lunch was a very long hour. As was Math. As was History.

When the school day was over, I went to the Coffee Clutch. Adam was waiting. He had 2 coffees in front of him. When I got to him, he offered me one.

"So what was it you wanted to tell me?"

Adam took a sip of his coffee.

"Cee, I think we should take a break. You know, see other people. We're sort of young to be tied down you know."

"Yeah." My voice sounded ragged. "I think that's a swell idea." Swell! What type of word was SWELL?

I drained what was left of my coffee in a gulp. It was tasteless. Then I walked out of the cozy café, leaving Adam gaping behind me.

I crossed the street without looking both ways. It didn't matter if a car hit me. I didn't give a hoot. I didn't care.

I walked and walked. All the way to my house. It took a long time. Usually Adam drove me home. But now that Adam and I were no longer together.

My heart squeezed. _You don't care, CeeCee, you don't care._

My eyes watered. _Dammit, you don't CARE!_

I fished my house key from my pocket. As I put it into the lock I remembered the time when I had lost the key and Adam had offered to pick the lock. Even though my house had a security system installed.

_You do not care about Adam, Cee. You don't care about anything. _

I stalked into my house and went straight upstairs. I checked the clock hanging on the wall. 5:16. I had a few hours to kill before I could go to sleep.

I did my homework. Luckily that didn't involve much thought. 6:25. Still a few hours to kill.

I tried to read a book. The main character's name was Adam. My throat felt sore. I put the book down.

I had no choice. Everything reminded me of _him. _So, I flipped on the TV and began to watch Dr. Phil.

Lame, I know. But despite this fact, I watched the Dr. Phil marathon for 4 hours straight.

After it was a how that interviewed various stars.

Why the heck were they interviewing Adam SANDLER?

I looked at the clock. 10:50. Perfect timing.

I put on my pajamas and tucked myself into bed. I looked at the ceiling and automatically thought of Adam.

I couldn't help it, okay? It was like a ritual now. For years. It was looking at the ceiling that convinced me that I did care. I cared a lot.

"I wish I didn't care about anything." I muttered to the ceiling.

Right before I drifted off to sleep, I thought I heard a voice say, "You really do, don't you? Let's see if Sloth is up to the challenge…"

The next morning I woke up. And proceeded to know my elbow into the wall behind me. As I looked at my red arm I realized that I didn't care that it would probably swell up. I didn't care about the pain.

I got out of bed and looked at my clothes. There was nothing left in my closet except for a pair of jeans and a holey sweatshirt. I put them on. Then I realized jeans were not allowed to be worn at school.

I shrugged to myself. _Why should I care?_

I decided to take the bus to school. So I walked to the bus stop. Without my regular shoes. Instead I wore a pair of my mom's slippers. I didn't care that it was raining and my feet were getting wet.

The bus came late. I was going to be late for school. That didn't matter at all.

Sister Ernestine made me go home and change. I wore some of my mom's butt ugly slacks. People stared and snickered at me. I thought that funny.

I screwed up all my classes and bombed a major unit test. Hahaha, the new CeeCee didn't give a hoot.

When I saw Adam talking to other girls, I didn't care. (Although that could be because that girl already had a girlfriend, but whatever.)

When I was nearly bowled over by a random skateboarder and Adam made a move as if to grab me, I didn't care.

In fact, I cared so little about everything, I didn't even care about myself.

The next day, my shoes were mismatched. I didn't comb my hair. When Suze tried to talk to me about a ghost problem she and Jesse were having, I didn't care. I didn't care enough to even respond.

As the days flew by, I ignored Suze. Even when it looked as if she was really worried. I wore T-shirts and capris (something an albino should NEVER do). And when I heard Suze and Adam whispering about me behind my back, it didn't affect me at all. I flunked too many tests to count. I became disgustingly lazy. Reason: I didn't care about anything. More like almost anything. I still cared enough to want to keep living.

Then was the day I woke up. Without a care in the world. My mom had to physically remove me from my bed to get me out of the house. I didn't focus in class. I moved robotically. It was during the last class of the day, that I decided that I didn't want to have to live anymore. BECAUSE I DIDN'T CARE!

"CeeCee? Yo, Cee! I need to talk to you after school." Suze sounded desperate.

"Mmm." I mumbled. She wouldn't see me after school. I was going to take a little walk. Maybe a little walk down a cliff or something.

When the stupid, sharp bell rang, I began my long walk. I didn't really know where the ledge I was looking for was. All I knew that some kid last year had committed suicide off of it a couple years ago. Now there would be another to join her.

People would think I was depressed. A crazy teenager. They would never know that I had jumped off because I didn't care.

Crunch.

There was a sound behind me. Maybe a hungry wild cat? Whatever.

I trained my eyes to the land in front of me. There it was!

I walked onto it. The ledge was bare. Flat. Smooth. Almost like paper.

Paper.

I took a sharpie from my back pocket and wrote down my message to whoever found me.

_I don't care._

_CeeCee._

I stretched. Then I leaped into the air and began my long fall to the sharp rocks below. Or at least that's what I thought.

"CeeCEE!" 2 voices called for me. Suze and another voice. My heart wrenched to hear it. What was Adam doing here?

I had to know why. I couldn't help myself. I needed to know why. I needed to know everything about him.

As I fell, my hands scrambled to find a hold. I gripped a branch a few feet below the ledge. The sharp edges of the branch drew some blood. I didn't really care. At least not that much.

I concentrated on holding on. On not giving up. But how long could a mere branch support me?

Suze's face appeared over the ledge. Her eyebrows were knit and her eyes were damp.

Then she saw my face.

"Goddammit, Cee! What are you doing?" She reached her arm down towards me.

I couldn't reach it. At least without letting go of the branch. And possibly falling. But I didn't care about that, right?

Suze tried again. This time she lay on the ledge. Her arm still wasn't long enough.

My hands were beginning to get sweaty. And were going to slip any minute.

"ADAM! Get your butt over here!" Suze was getting hysterical. I longed to tell her it was okay but I had to keep from caring. I didn't care about anything. About anyone.

I heard the sound of running. Suze scooted over. "Look!" Her voice was laced with fear.

Adam took one look at me and my really slippery hands. Then he flattened his body onto the ledge.

His arm reached for me. Sadly, it was just like Suze's. Too small to bridge the gap between me and safety.

"CeeCee, please, just grab my hand." I was visibly sliding off the branch now.

"I can't." My voice trembled. I cared. I didn't want to die yet.

"God, Cee. Don't you trust me?" Adam's eyes brightened. Just a little.

I tried hard not to care. Tried to be the uncaring person I had been just a few hours ago.

My hands were gliding right off the branch. I was going to fall. To my doom.

"CEECEE!" It was Suze. "Stop being such a scaredy cat and grab Adam's hand!"

Scaredy CAT! I was no scaredy cat.

"Please Cee…" Adam begged.

Just when my hands were about to lose their grip on the branch I swung upwards, reaching with one hand.

Unfortunately, my other hand let go of the branch as well.

Gravity pulled on me. I was suspended between my life and my death.

Then, Adam's warm hand grabbed mine.

My shoulder ached with the strain of my weight.

But that was okay. As Adam (and Suze who later grabbed my other hand) pulled me up, I knew I was safe.

As soon as Suze saw I was okay, she gave me a quick hug and vanished. I heard her calling, "All right, so what drove you to jump off the ledge?" and I knew she was mediating a ghost. Thankfully, that ghost wasn't mine.

"All right, CeeCee. Why did you just jump of the ledge?"

"Because I didn't care." That answer obviously didn't make any sense.

He looked at me.

"Do you care now?" Adam asked.

"Mmmm." Then suddenly I asked, "Why did you break up with me?"

Adam turned his back towards me, hands in his pockets. "Cuz the new guy, Gary something or other, wanted to ask you out. And I couldn't stand in your way. No girl would take me over the best catch in the school."

"Are you saying I'm not a girl?" I wanted to get the sadness out of his voice. I realized that it may hurt to care again.

I heard a weak chuckle.

"You know, Cee? I've missed you." Adam turned around and kissed me. Then I remembered to kiss him back.

"Now can you answer my question? Do you care or not?"

"Yeah." I nodded. "I care."

As Adam and I walked towards the place where his beetle was parked I heard a voice on the wind.

"Sinner? Don't just walk away. TAKE SLOTH WITH YOU! TAKE IT!"

I paid the voice no heed. I didn't need Sloth to be happy. I cared. And that was enough.


End file.
